As many as 700 people were feared dead after a fishing boat packed with migrants capsized off the Libyan coast overnight in what officials said may be the Mediterranean's worst disaster as thousands flee poverty and war to Europe.
Top officials in Europe, whose recently-downsized border protection program has been criticized by international aid groups, said urgent action was needed. EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said foreign ministers would discuss the issue at a meeting in Luxembourg on Monday.
If confirmed, the death toll would bring to 1,500 the total number of dead since the beginning of the year resulting from the flow of migrants seeking to flee insecurity in sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East.
Only last week, around 400 migrants were reported to have died attempting to reach Italy from Libya when their boat capsized.
On Sunday twenty eight people were rescued and 24 bodies recovered from the 20 meter-long vessel, which sank around 70 miles from the Libyan coast, south of the southern Italian island of Lampedusa, the Italian coast guard said.
The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) said later that around 50 people had been rescued of the 700 reported to be on board.
"They are literally trying to find people alive among the dead floating in the water," Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said.
French President Francois Hollande said the EU had to do more, telling Canal+ television that rescue and disaster prevention efforts needed "more boats, more over flights and a much more intense battle against people trafficking."
"More EU countries must take responsibility for the refugee situation," said Sweden's Minister for Justice and migration Morgan Johansson, who called for an expansion of the EU's Triton border protection program, which only operates within 30 miles of the Italian coast.
The previous search and rescue operation "Mare Nostrum" was cancelled last year because of the cost and because some politicians said it encouraged migrants to depart by raising their hopes of being rescued.
"This disaster confirms how urgent it is to restore a robust rescue-at-sea operation and establish credible legal avenues to reach Europe," said UNHCR head Antonio Guterres.
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi called for an emergency meeting of European Union leaders this week, saying "We cannot remain insensitive when every day there is a massacre in the Mediterranean.".
The German government's representative for migration, refugees and integration, Aydan Ozoguz, said that with more arrivals likely to arrive as the weather turned warmer, emergency rescue missions should be restored.
"It was an illusion to think that cutting off Mare Nostrum would prevent people from attempting this dangerous voyage across the Mediterranean," she said.
REUTERS
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